Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)
Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II) is the thirteenth episode in the second season of The Venture Bros. It is the season two finale. Plot The episode begins with a twelve second montage of "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)," leading up to Phantom Limb's ultimatum to return Dr. Girlfriend/Dr. Fianceé to him or else he would destroy the Cocoon and everyone inside. Pandemonium ensues as all of the guests at the wedding quickly depart to escape Phantom Limb's forces. Phantom Limb allows them to leave, seeing them as inconsequential. Phantom Limb asks The Monarch to respond to his ultimatum. The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend/Dr. Fianceé refuse to comply with Phantom Limb. The Monarch says that Phantom Limb should get the hint that he's been dumped, calling him a loser. Dr. Venture--who was forced to become The Monarch's best man in the previous episode--makes a brief appearance at this point and asks if he can leave since the quarrel doesn't involve him at all. No one responds to his question. Dr. Girlfriend calls Phantom Limb by his real name, Hamilton G. Phantos, and says that he is embarrassing himself and that he and his armada should leave. Phantom Limb dismisses this as an female irrational outburst and forgives her for what she said. The Monarch also says that Dr. Girlfriend hates Phantom Limb--he even suffers from halitosis (bad breath). Phantom Limb becomes angry and commands two of his operatives--Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop, who had arrived at the wedding undercover in the previous episode--to intervene. Klaus uses his high pitched voice and signals Iggy to create an energy orb. Iggy begins to walk towards The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend. The Monarch asks Dr. Girlfriend to do something, but it seems nothing can be done. David Bowie walks in front of Iggy to shield them from his energy orb. He calls him a traitor and orders him to stand down. Iggy refuses, saying that he's been taking orders from Bowie for 30 years and now it's time for him to be Iggy's dog. A fight ensues between Klaus, Iggy, and Bowie. Bowie catches Iggy's orb and disappears when Iggy orders it to pop, leaving only his pack of cigarettes behind. Dr. Girlfriend has fainted and The Monarch cannot revive her, so he decides he has nothing left to live for and asks for Brock's help in fighting Iggy and Klaus. The Monarch fights Klaus and Brock fights Iggy. Klaus uses his bowtie to knock The Monarch into Brock, giving him and Iggy enough time to kidnap Dr. Girlfriend. They drag Dr. Girlfriend out by her hair as The Monarch's henchmen look on. Dean Venture is locked in the engine room of The Cocoon and tries to summon help, but can't raise anyone on his wrist radio. After giving up, he walks to the bottom of a staircase and finds a soda can tab. He puts it on his finger, and a mysterious voice says that he has found the "ring of power," and that they have been waiting for eons for someone who could successfully wear the ring without dying. Giant Boy Detective--who looks and sounds a lot like Master Billy Quizboy--appears and tells Dean that they are going to save the kingdom and restore Princess Tinklepants to the throne so peace will reign for all eternity. Dean is disappointed until Giant Boy Detective reluctantly adds that they will solve a "super cool mystery" in the process. Dean asks why he appears so short in real life (he was supposed to be 30 feet tall in the books he read). Giant Boy Detective says that he should see Clifford, who is only as big as dogs that rich ladies drive around and is actually more pink than red. Giant Boy Detective leads the way with a magic flashlight that quickly burns out due to defective enchanted batteries. Giant Boy Detective hits the flashlight to get it to light again and he and Dean begin their journey. Giant Boy Detective shines his light on the wall and an image of pink clouds and blue sky appears. The Order of the Triad (Doctor Orpheus, The Alchemist, and Jefferson Twilight) are back at The Venture Compound preparing the X-1 to rescue the Ventures and Brock. The Alchemist says that after rescuing the Ventures, he wants to take the X-1 to Aruba for vacation. Doctor Orpheus is unsure how to fly the X-1. The Sullustan that the Triad summoned from a trading card in the previous episode sits in the co-pilot's seat. The Alchemist complains about this, as he has to sit in the back seat. The Alchemst says that he wanted to kill the Sullustan as he was probably an abomination. Doctor Orpheus says that he can't kill the person unless they were reincarnated from the dead, otherwise it's still murder. The Sullustan sets the controls and the X-1 is on its way. Back at the Cocoon, The Monarch wants to rescue Dr. Girlfriend and begins to wildly run out of the room when Brock stops him. Brock says that he would be insane to go and rescue Dr. Girlfriend now, there is a huge Guild armada outside ready to strike at anyone who leaves. Brock instructs the Monarch to simply fly The Cocoon itself and to organize an armed strike team to get Dr. Girlfriend. Brock starts giving orders to The Monarch's henchmen until he is interrupted. Brock lets The Monarch give the order to his henchmen, or "minions," as they like that term better. The Monarch sends the Cocoon to battle stations. The wedding chapel turns back into the main command center with a magenta hue to the lights. The Monarch is about to sit down when he finds Doctor Venture eating food for the reception in his chair. The Monarch knocks the food out of Doctor Venture's hand and shoos him away. Dr. Girlfriend is brought before Phantom Limb at his base high above The Cocoon in the Guild armada. Phantom Limb tells Dr. Girlfriend to get out of her wedding dress and into her Queen Etherea costume and stand at his side. She refuses and asks if he knows how the Sovereign will react when he finds out that Phantom Limb used the Guild army for a lover's quarrel. Iggy and Klaus are laughing in the background. Dr. Girlfriend asks why they are laughing. Phantom Limb then says that the Sovereign would be all right with it, because he is the Sovereign. He then orders the armada to attack. The Cocoon takes off and evades the armada. Doctor Venture takes this moment to figure out that a flying cocoon makes no sense and asks The Monarch why he just didn't pick a giant butterfly as his lair instead. The Monarch says, "Because that's gay." The henchmen are creating a strike team for the Dr. Girlfriend's rescue. #24 is leading the meeting and asks who in the group is suicidal. A couple of henchmen raise their hands. Number 24 then asks who in the group likes change. #21 arrives and orders the Henchmen to follow a new leader's--Brock Samson in a butterfly costume--instructions as they would follow #24's. Brock says that even though he beat on most of the henchmen in the past (some of the henchmen show appreciation for their injuries--and some still have scars from them--and express their love for Brock), they have to put aside their differences for the time being and focus on getting Dr. Girlfriend back. He welcomes them to "Big Boy Town" and says they are no longer butterflies... they are now murderflies. Brock says the plan is to attack Phantom Limb's ship by flying there. All of the henchmen's cheering stops. Brock asks why, and Number 24 says that they don't fly, all they have for transportation is the Monarchmobile and a Nissan Stanza. One of the henchmen says their wings are only for show, but then the henchmen start to fly around the room. The henchmen are surprised. Hank wants to help, but Brock says no and tells him to find Dean and go hide. Meanwhile, in Dean's adventure, Triana Orpheus appears in a field of puffy clouds and calls Dean a "savior of our world." The Great White Oracle (who looks just like Pete White) is shown Dean. The Oracle doesn't believe he is a fighter. Dean says that he can do it... he is, after all, the chosen one. The Oracle and a giant rat man--who looks just like Dr. Venture--still don't believe him. Brock is sending the henchmen into battle when he is approached by a Russian exchange henchman (Hank). Brock doesn't realize this--Hank is wearing large sunglasses and his fake beard--and send him into battle. He falls out of The Cocoon and plummets towards the ground. Brock picks him up and finds out who he really is, but he can't do anything but take Hank with him. Brock instructs the henchmen on what to do in battle. Phantom Limb is alerted to the attack and tells them to stand their ground and let them come to him. Dr. Girlfriend can't believe that he is the Sovereign, as she had seen him get chewed out all the time from the Sovereign. She then realizes that the attack on the wedding was really a plan to kill the Sovereign (David Bowie) and assume his position. Iggy needs to smoke a cigarette (using Bowie's pack). Phantom Limb sends him outside to smoke. Iggy pulls out a cigarette and notices one has the face of David Bowie. David Bowie appears out of the cigarette and punches Iggy in the face, knocking him off Phantom Limb's aircraft, and apparently killing him. Meanwhile, Dean rescues what he thinks is a child labor camp from The Insect King, a mutant insect that sounds like The Monarch, and disables the engine that the children were powering. At the same moment, The Cocoon's engines go off-line. The Monarch asks his henchmen to go to the engine room and figure out what went wrong, but they refuse, saying it's "creepy down there." Doctor Venture asks if The Monarch pays the henchmen. The Monarch then quietly asks Doctor Venture if he wants to go see his rescue cocoon. David Bowie shapeshifts and sneaks in to Phantom Limb's main chamber as Iggy and disables Klaus by covering his mouth when he used his high pitched voice. Unable to discharge his voice energy, Klaus explodes and dies. Phantom Limb immediately knows it is Bowie and starts to fight him. Brock, Hank, #24, and #21 have reached Phantom Limb's craft and are trying to enter when they are swiped by the X-1. Out of control, the X-1 is about to crash into The Cocoon. Doctor Venture and The Monarch arrive at the rescue cocoon and get rid of a passing henchmen who wants to go along. Doctor Venture and The Monarch escape The Cocoon. Dean, still hallucinating, has rescued the princess and all is well in Insectia. Dean suggets making out with the princess, and does. Falkor the Luckdragon tells Dean that he loves him. Everything goes back to normal and the giant white dragon is now the wreckage of the X-1, which has crashed into the side of The Cocoon. The Sullustan was killed in the crash, with the Alchemist minding the Triad not to step in his remains. Doctor Orpheus and The Alchemist see Dean, still hallucinating, and hope to rescue him from his delusions. Phantom Limb's craft crashes into the rescue cocoon. In the midst of the wreckage, henchmen are everywhere and floating in a river (thanks to their wings, which are handy flotation devices). The Monarch grabs Dr. Girlfriend--first it was David Bowie in Dr. Girlfriend's form--and makes sure she is all right. Dr. Girlfriend was pinned underneath what she thinks is Phantom Limb's leg, otherwise she's fine. The rest of him is nowhere to be found. Apparently, somewhere in the commotion, Phantom Limb escaped, though he's obviously greviously wounded. The Monarch now has a new arch-enemy, but Bowie tells him not to worry, as whatever is left of Phantom Limb will have nowhere on earth to hide, once he sics his "Diamond Dogs" on him. Bowie then bids them all a fond farewell, wishes Dr. Girlfriend and The Monarch congratulations, then shapeshifts into a bald eagle and flies away. Hank then identifies Bowie as "The guy from Labrynth!" Doctor Venture survives the crash, although he has swallowed a gold filling. The Order of the Triad arrives with an unconcious Dean in tow. Doctor Orpheus is carrying him when he trips and falls, dropping Dean and reviving him in the process. Doctor Venture sarcastically thanks Brock for not keeping track of Dean's whereabouts. The Alchemist finds an unspecified severed appendage of the Phantom Limb's and decides to keep it. The Ventures and The Order of the Triad are heading home in the X-1 and Dean is hanging out of the top of the airplane. Jefferson Twilight asks if Dean will be all right up there since there is limited oxygen and it is extremely cold outside at their altitude. Brock says that Dean does that a lot and he'll pass out in a few minutes. The camera pans down to the sea, where another rescue craft looking similar to the rescue cocoon is floating by. The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend (Dr. Wife?) are on their honeymoon. Dr. Girlfriend has something to tell The Monarch that might "change things." We learn her real name--Sheila--and she says, "I'm--" The camera quickly pans out to the rescue cocoon and The Monarch is heard saying, "What?!?" in a shocked voice, thus setting up a mini-cliffhanger to be resolved in season III, assuming there is a season III. Trivia *This episode is the first and only two part episode in The Venture Bros.'s two seasons on air (the episode Escape to the House of Mummies Part II had no Part I). Instead of a normal recap of the previous episode, the previous episode (or parts therof) were shown at incredibly high speed - this might have been done to save time, as this episode lacked any sort of opening credits beyond the title. *After Iggy has thrown his energy ball at David Bowie and believes he has killed him, Klaus states "Ding, dong. The Queen Bitch is dead," which is a reference to Nomi's song "Ding, Dong" and Bowie's song "Queen Bitch." This is also a reference to the song sung by the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz, one line being "Ding, Dong, the Witch is dead." *Before actual fighting occurs in this scene, Iggy states "Now you're gonna be my dog," to David Bowie which is a reference to the song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by Iggy Pop and The Stooges. He also tells Bowie that for thirty years, he's been playing the idiot, a reference to his solo album The Idiot, as well as the extensive guidance and support Bowie has given Iggy Pop throughout his career. *The Sovereign is revealed to be David Bowie. Also, it appears that the Sovereign is the highest rank in the Guild of Calamitous Intent. If the current Sovereign dies, the next in line is promoted. *When the cocoon is being evacuated, numerous villians that were previously seen in "Tag Sale – You're It!" and "Fallen Arches" can be seen. Torrid can also be seen leaving the wedding. *In one line, The Monarch refers to Iggy Pop as "Spicoli," likely a reference to the character of the same name in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The Monarch also refers to Klaus Nomi as "the one dressed like Taco." *One of the aircraft seen leaving the cocoon is a recognizer from Tron. *Among the Star Wars references in this episode: **Nien Nunb co-pilots the X-1 just as he co-piloted the Millenium Falcon in Return of the Jedi. **Brock says "Great shot kid, that was one-in-a-million!", a line spoken by Han Solo in A New Hope. **While watching Bowie and Sovereign fight, Hank says "It's like Dracula fighting Yoda in there." Aside from mentioning Yoda, this could also be a reference to the battle between Yoda and Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, as Christopher Lee, who played Dooku, is also well-known for his portrayal of Dracula. **The irising porthole that Iggy uses to exit the craft bears a strong resemblence to the ones shown on the Millennium Falcon at the conclusion of The Empire Strikes Back. **The sound of the Monarch's Cocoon's Engines failing due to Dean's assault is similar to the sound of the Hyper-drive failing on the Millennium Falcon during''The Empire Strikes Back''. **The Strangers' dialogue at the start of the battle resembles the dialogue duing the start of the Imperial counter-attack from Return of the Jedi. *Hank calls David Bowie, "the guy from Labyrinth," in which Bowie played Jareth, the antagonist. Bowie's shapeshifting abilities could be a reference to the powers of Jareth. It could also be a reference to his frequent change in personas throughout his career. *Ironically, Phantom Limb loses several limbs (including one "personal" one picked up by the Alchemist) at the end of the episode, giving his name a more literal meaning. *One of the Monarch's henchmen that forgives Brock has blue ink smeared over his face. This is a reference to Part I where Brock is jumped by the henchmen while getting a tattoo. *Dean's fantasy adventure is based on The Neverending Story: ** Atreyu - Dean ** Childlike Empress - Triana ** Nighthob - Dr. Venture ** Cairon - Pete White ** Rockbiter - Master Billy Quizboy ** Gmork/Nothing - The Monarch/(Zorak?) ** Falkor - the X-1 ** The Auryn of Fantasia - "The Magic Ring of Power" *In his hallucination, when Dean jumps into the Slave Center to face The Monarch, he cries, "Yo, Joe!" This is the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero team battle cry. *As Dean is bashing the slave mechanism with his sword, his ranting reveals that he holds a great deal of resentment towards his father imposing the adventuring lifestyle on him. *The zebra with the colored stripes in Dean's hallucination is similar to Yipes, the zebra mascot on Fruit Stripe gum. *When Klaus and Iggy present Dr. Girlfriend to Phantom Limb, she calls them his "stooges," to which Klaus responds "I wasn't in the Stooges." Iggy Pop was the founder and leader of the proto-punk band The Stooges. *When Iggy requests to fight against the Monarch's men, he tells Phantom Limb that he is "a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm." These are lyrics from the song "Search & Destroy" from the 1973 Stooges album Raw Power. *The end credits mentioned, "The Venture Bros will return...", while this is a James Bond homage, it is also an unofficial confirmation of season 3 for the Venture Bros. *David Bowie utters a line "make way for the Homo Superior" when fighting Iggy Pop. This is a line from Bowie's song "Oh! You Pretty Things." *Bowie also states that Phantom Limb is not a worry because he will sick the Diamond Dogs on him. A reference to his album "Diamond Dogs". *One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) gets to have a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)" there were no end credits and therefore no inside joke. However, for "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)" the credit reads Kimson "Your Favorite Quote Here" Albert. *While Brock talks about Dean in the last few minutes of the episode, the Alchemist can be seen smirking at Hank while Hank seems uncomfortable (press stop on Adult Swim Fix). *David Bowie is portrayed as being heterochromatic, with his right eye being blue and his left eye being red. Jefferson Twilight is also drawn with a left red eye and a right brown one. * Klaus Nomi featured prominently in this episode, despite the fact that he died in 1983. No explanation for his still being alive (Or possibly having been resurrected) is given in the episode. Goofs *Triana Orpheus (dressed as Princess Tinglepants) can be seen leaving the wedding. *As Dean is still wrapped in his fantasy, we are led to assume the epilogue happened shortly after the events of this episode. However, the X-1 was wrecked at the conclusion of the episode. Airborne, it is still in pristine shape -- even the window is back in place. Repairs could not have possibly been done that fast -- especially at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (unless, of course, Dr. Orpheus or The Alchemist magically repaired it somehow). *The Henchmen say they only have the Monarchmobile and 24's Stanza as means of transport. However, in "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean" the Cocoon is shown equipped with a winged dronecraft (note: this may be for The Monarch's use only) **The lack of any aircraft or extra vehicles could also be the result of the destruction of the majority of the Monarch's coccoon seen in the opening montage of the earlier episode "Powerless in the Face of Death." *During the battle between Dean and the Insect King, Dean chops off the Insect King's left arm. In the next scene, his right arm is the one missing. *Dr. Girlfriend's Queen Etherea costume is slightly different than in the earlier episodes "Victor. Echo. November." and "Trial of the Monarch." Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)